Tesla Adds Protective Battery Shields and Deflector Plates to Model S

Tesla Motors faced a crisis of sorts after two of its Model S vehicles caught fire. That is why the company has added new protective battery features including triple underbody titanium shield and aluminum deflector plates for the safety of all future Model S passengers.

Recently, Tesla Motor’s electric car titled the Model S got in some trouble due to its samples catching fire on the roads. The reason was the undercarriage undergoing friction with debris on the highways. This caused fires to break out.

Although the cars that went up in flames were totally damaged, the people driving them were left relatively unscathed. However, the reputation of the company took a backseat due to this big blunder in the mechanical makeup of the vehicles.

However, Tesla CEO Elon Musk states that "the odds of fire in a Model S, at roughly 1 in 8,000 vehicles, are five times lower than those of an average gasoline car and, when a fire does occur, the actual combustion potential is comparatively small. However, to improve things further, we provided an over-the-air software update a few months ago to increase the default ground clearance of the Model S at highway speeds, substantially reducing the odds of a severe underbody impact."

So Tesla’s Elon Musk decided to do something about it. A titanium shield that offered triple protection was installed on the bottoms of the means of transportation. This will surely go a long way towards repelling any chances of accidental conflagrations in the future.

"We felt it was important to bring this (fire) risk down to virtually zero to give Model S owners complete peace of mind. Starting with vehicle bodies manufactured as of March 6, all cars have been outfitted with a triple underbody shield. Tesla service will also retrofit the shields, free of charge, to existing cars upon request or as part of a normally scheduled service," states Musk on the medium website.

The titanium shields provide relief to the electric batteries within the vehicles from rough shocks and sudden jerks. And the deflectors are an extra defensive measure that further beef up the vehicle’s underbelly.

Some 30,000 classy Model S versions were churned out with these added security features from the company’s Fremont plant in California. Tesla Motors had achieved quite a series of accolades for itself due to its fantastic electric cars. The unfortunate incidents of fire caused some amount of damage to its reputation.

"We believe these changes will also help prevent a fire resulting from an extremely high speed impact that tears the wheels off the car, like the other Model S impact fire, which occurred last year in Mexico," added Musk. "The underbody shields will help prevent a fire even in such a scenario."

But now it’s back on track and looking for more publicity. The competition it is offering the other brands in the field means that its rivals have every reason to fear it in the long run.

"With a track record of zero deaths or serious, permanent injuries since our vehicles went into production six years ago, there is no safer car on the road than a Tesla. The addition of the underbody shields simply takes it a step further," stated Musk.

Tesla Motors is named after a misunderstood genius that had feuds with Thomas Alva Edison in his heyday. His name was given to a unit of magnetic flux too. The age of the hybrid electric vehicle has come and Tesla Motors is fulfilling the demand for cars that run on green energy among environmentally motivated Americans.